CD Reviews

"Definatly a good album. overanalyzing comments not needed. Just buy it and be happy."

Maybe the best leather album

D. M. MATALLIN | Valencia, Spain | 05/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I know most of the fans prefer 'Solitary Confinement', but for me, 'Rebirth of Agony' is perhaps the best album ever made by Claus Larsen. When i listened to this cd 4 years ago, I had already listened to 'Pleasure of Penetration', 'Solitary Confinement', 'Object V' and 'Legacy of hate and Lust'. 'The Rebirth...' seemed to me to be quite superior to all these. I was a huge Leather Strip fan then, so this cd became one of my 5 favourite cds. But then I started to read critics and fans saying this was the worst album by this band, and I couldn't believe it... and even though now I am not the fan i used to be (now i prefer Skinny Puppy, Neubauten, Dive...) I still think that, as a whole, this cd is the best Larsen has ever made. Mainly due to various reasons: 1- Larsen manages to control his agressiveness and achieves to compose a cd wider in range, not as repetitive as previous albums. 2- Larsen's voice sounds with more variety here: stmes distorted (Lies to Tell), stmes fragile (Anger is a part of Me, Edge of Anger)... 3- the electronics are more varied here. The cd begins with one of the best LS song's ever: 'You Know Where to put It': it serves as a guide of how Leather Strip had evolved. Good chorus, good voice, wonderful electronic sounds... Leather strip songs used to sound the same from beginning to end: the beat fell into repetitiveness stmes; this song breaks that defect. 'Life Is Painful' is similar though with a dirtier sound; 'Switch On-Switch Off' presents larsen's voice at its more natural and even beautiful. Good electronics as well. The fourth, 'Lies to Tell' is an example of how typical Leather songs sounded then and had evolved. Vocoder, more agressive chorus, quicker beat... all this makes a vetry good sound with an excellent chorus. 'My Mind is My Master' is slower, more controlled; it's not bad though sth makes it inferior to the previous. 'How Do I Know' is another typical song; much too typical I'd say... I suppose older fans love this... I don't like it, it's boring to me. 'Edge of Anger' is very skeletical, slow and melancholic... one of the best anyway. 'I Want You Hard' is very danceable and I enjoy this a lot; it's not as good as 'You Know...' or 'Switch On...' but good. 'Take care of Me' seems like a second part to 'I Want You Hard'... it's more typical and very danceable. 'Anger is a Part of Me' is the more gothic song here; it could be included in 'Legacy...' if it had had a darker atmosphere (and composed earlier, of course) 'Make My Blood Boil' begins with interesting drums, but gets too boring: very distorted voice, quite repetitive... typical Leather song. The cd ends with 'Fool', the shortest piece here and just decent. This cd has lost some charm since i was a hard Leather Strip fan, but I still consider it the best by this band in spite of many contrary opinions. Everyone has its favourites, anyway. But it seems this Danish man is lost nowadays and I don't really know what he will do in the future (if he does anything)"